What Can You Learn About the Creator From a Book? - Real Predictions

The predictions in the book of Isaiah are not limited to events involving Cyrus and the Jewish exiles.  Isaiah also foretold Babylon's final situation, and his book gave many details about a coming Messiah, or Deliverer, who would suffer and then  be glorified.  Can we establish whether such predictions were written long in advance and therefore were prophecies to be fulfilled?

Consider this point.  Isaiah wrote about Babylon's final situation:  "Babylon, the decoration of kingdoms, the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans, must become as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.  She will never be inhabited, nor will she reside for generation after generation."  (Isaiah 13:19, 20; chapter 47)  How did things  actually work out?

The facts are that Babylon has long depended on a complex irrigation system of dams and canals between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It appears that  about 140 B.C.E.  this water system was damaged in the destructive Parthian conquest and basically collapsed.  With what effect?  The Encyclopedia American explains: "The soil became saturated with mineral salts, and a crust of alkali formed over the surface, making agricultural use impossible."  Some 200 years later, Babylon was still a populous city, but it did not remain such for much longer.  (Compare 1 Peter 5:13.)  By the third century C.E., the historian  Dio Cassius (c.150-235 C.E.) described a visitor to Babylon as finding nothing but "mounds of stones and ruins." ( LXVIII, 30) Significantly, by this time Isiah had been dead and his complete book in circulation for centuries. And if you visited Babylon today, you would see mere ruins of that once-glorious city.  Though ancient cities such as Rome, Jerusalem, and Athens have survived down to our day, Babylon is desolate, uninhabited, a ruin; it is just as Isaiah foretold.  The prediction came true.  

Now let us focus on Isaiah's description of the  coming Messiah. According to Isaiah 52:13, this special servant of God would eventually be 'in high station and be exalted very much.' However, the following chapter (Isaiah 53) prophesied that before his exaltation, the Messiah would undergo a surprisingly different  experience.  You might be amazed at the details recorded in that chapter, which is widely acknowledged to be a Messianic prophecy.  

Next time:  What Can You Learn About the Creator From a Book? - Continue with Real Predictions 

From the book Is There a Creator That Cares About You?